December 13, 2010

This Week in The National Law Journal

Amanda Bronstad filed this report on a long-simmering copyright dispute between Hollywood and the Web that has recently hit the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2d Circuit. The outcome could set a national precedent regarding the scope of potential liability for nearly every business on the Internet that posts infringing content.

Jenna Greene takes a look at the International Trade Commission, which has become the hottest venue around for patent disputes. The top reason for the explosion of patent cases before the ITC is speed. Despite the crush of work, the ITC this year has been deciding typical patent cases from start to finish within 18 months — even faster turnaround than two years ago, thanks, lawyers said, to an increase in the number of administrative law judges.

Mike Scarcella explores the turf war between two federal agencies that seek to control the regulation of commodity futures markets. The two agencies, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, are quarreling over the authority to enforce rules against the trader at the center of the collapse of the hedge fund Amaranth in 2006.

In Washington, Jeff Jeffrey examines how the recession has affected law firm diversity efforts. In short, it hasn't helped. Jeffrey reports that of the 702 area lawyers who lost their jobs during the past year, almost half were women. And minority lawyers accounted for 101 of the slots.